It's the world turned upside down, writes Corine Lesnes as she reports that the Bush administration is raising its voice to defend France with regards to Lebanon.

What really transpires here is how caricaturally the French view the Americans. As far as boxes of clichés are concerned, maybe they are somewhat more than simpletonistic France-bashers whose (rare) rise above the fray is worth noticing. Here is another theory. Maybe the Americans are not so stupid as you would like to think, and maybe the anger about France should not be so rapidly dismissed as nothing but a "box of clichés".